In this era of identikit smartphones HMD’s first job was to make sure there were no glaring omissions in terms of spec and design. It seems to have achieved that with a Snapdragon 835, 5.3-inch QHD screen, 64 GB storage with micro SD slot and twin 13 MP Zeiss cameras. The industrial design seems fine, although there’s less of an emphasis on minimizing the bezel than seen on some other flagship smartphones.

The best attempt at differentiation seems to be a camera feature HMD is calling the ‘bothie’, which enables split screen images and video to be captured using the front and rear cameras simultaneously. This would presumably be especially handy for YouTubers looking to film their reactions to thins like computer games.

“We know that fans are creating and sharing live content more than ever before, with millions of photos and videos shared every minute on social media,” said Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer of HMD. “People are inspired by the content they consume and are looking for new ways to create their own. It’s these people who have inspired us to craft a flagship smartphone which perfectly balances premium design, an outstanding experience and powerful performance.”

The Nokia 8 will roll out globally during September, costing around $700. Online response has been muted, with reviews concluding the device is adequate rather than exceptional and that it’s likely to struggle against similarly specced phones like the OnePlus 5 that are considerably cheaper. We will get a good sense of the residual value in the Nokia smartphone brand by the end of the year.

]]>http://telecoms.com/484116/hmd-launches-nokia-8-flagship-smartphone-with-bothie-camera-gimmick/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/08/Nokia_8_Range.jpgEricsson, Nokia and Huawei all get a piece of $650m Mobily network upgrade gighttp://telecoms.com/484067/ericsson-nokia-and-huawei-all-get-a-piece-of-650m-mobily-network-upgrade-gig/
http://telecoms.com/484067/ericsson-nokia-and-huawei-all-get-a-piece-of-650m-mobily-network-upgrade-gig/#commentsTue, 15 Aug 2017 12:25:26 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=484067Saudi Arabian operator Mobily has recruited a dream team of networking vendors to upgrade its mobile network over the next three years.

Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei are all getting a piece of the action, although it has not been disclosed how the three fierce competitors are going to coexist during the project. The total amount Mobily (otherwise known as Etihad Etisalat) expects to shell out for the project is SAR 2.4 billion (~$650 million), for which it doesn’t expect to need fresh debt.

“This agreement comes in line with 2030 Kingdom Vision and its objectives that focus on developing telecom & IT sector,” said Mobily CEO Ahmed Aboudoma, as reported by the Saudi Gazette. “Moreover, it will allow Mobily to provide the best services to its customers that comply with its new strategy ‘RISE’ in which its objectives revolve around boosting up the level of provided services by using the latest telecom technologies.

“Mobily’s current network has a competitive performance among the sector. The new agreement will contribute in raising network performance significantly to allow Mobily customers enjoy unprecedented services. The agreement discussions lasted more than 6 months to ensure adding plans comply with telecom technology rapid developments, in addition to adapting future technologies within an efficient contractual framework.”

This marks an interesting twist in the intense competition for Middle Eastern business between the big kit vendors. Ericsson recently won some digital transformation business from Zain Kuwait that Huawei is said to have been hoping for. Saudi Arabia is the biggest country and economy in the region and it is committed to reducing its economic reliance on oil though the 2030 Vision programme.

]]>http://telecoms.com/484067/ericsson-nokia-and-huawei-all-get-a-piece-of-650m-mobily-network-upgrade-gig/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/08/Mobily-logo.jpgWould you believe it, Nokia is expanding its 5G portfoliohttp://telecoms.com/483784/would-you-believe-it-nokia-is-expanding-its-5g-portfolio/
http://telecoms.com/483784/would-you-believe-it-nokia-is-expanding-its-5g-portfolio/#commentsTue, 01 Aug 2017 11:31:53 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=483784Nokia has announced it will be broadening its portfolio for early 5G mobility use cases after seemingly figuring out people might actually like it.

The announcement itself has been worded in such a way that it sounds like the Finn’s are actually shocked by the news. After identifying a ‘clear interest for 5G mobility applications’ from operators, Nokia has put forward the high-flying ambitions of making more 5G products. I don’t know about you, but you correspondent was shocked to hear the industry was looking forward to the development of such a technology. Shocked I tell you.

“There should be no doubt about the huge potential of 5G,” Nokia’s President of Mobile Networks, Marc Rouanne proudly proclaimed, in what we can only imagine was said with the same euphoria as someone figuring out the meaning of life.

“Through 5G First, Nokia is evolving its 5G strategy to drive the industry rapidly towards the adoption of standards-based commercial applications – as early as 2019. Doing so will require broad cross-industry support, and we call upon regulators and governments to free up and enable the use of spectrum at low-, mid- and high-frequency bands for trials. This will allow robust evaluation of 5G to take place, so that collectively, we can deliver one of the most important new technologies in history, one that will truly drive the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

The focus look more specifically at mobility use cases around enhanced mobile broadband and ultra-reliable, ultra-low latency communications. The team will also push an accelerated 3GPP industry standardization, while also implementing early 5G specifications, to ‘enhance’ 5G First with the 3GPP 5G Phase I protocol.

Research and development will focus on the following areas:

Use of radio propagation in higher frequencies

Massive MIMO and beamforming

Integration with existing networks versus standalone implementations

The use of small cells in 5G deployments

The importance of cloud native core and cloud RAN technologies

So for those who think that Huawei is running away with the industry, don’t worry, Nokia has figured out there might be some legs to this 5G thing after all. Game on.

]]>http://telecoms.com/483784/would-you-believe-it-nokia-is-expanding-its-5g-portfolio/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/11/Reaction.jpgNokia shows Ericsson how it’s donehttp://telecoms.com/483726/nokia-shows-ericsson-how-its-done/
http://telecoms.com/483726/nokia-shows-ericsson-how-its-done/#commentsThu, 27 Jul 2017 14:08:39 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=483726Both were giants in the industry, both were eclipsed by Huawei and both are scrambling to reinvent themselves, but only one is showing tenuous signs of recovery.

For the second quarter of 2017, Nokia has reported operating profits of €574 million, up 73% year-on-year, though it has warned the market sales are expected to drop by 3% to 5% over the course of 2017. It’s a real mixed bag for Nokia, which has some very promising business units making some good cash, but the telco network equipment area is proving to be a tough cookie. Group sales decreased 1% to €5.63 billion.

“We expect our primary addressable market with communication service providers to be slightly more challenging in 2017 than earlier forecast,” said CEO Rajeev Suri. “We now expect a decline in the market in the range of 3-5%, versus our earlier view of a low-single digit decline. In addition, we continue to expect our Networks sales to perform in line with the market.

“In summary, a good second quarter, some challenges ahead this year, but also reasons to be optimistic about Nokia’s ability to deliver.”

Despite tough market conditions, Nokia has certainly shown a bit more than its Swedish neighbours. The $16 billion acquisition of Alcatel Lucent has continued to pay dividends as it continues to broaden its product portfolio in fixed line. Less of a streamlined focus on mobile now the 4G phenomenon would appear to have peaked, is making the purchase seem like a bit of a bargain in hindsight. Meaningful contributions from the 5G euphoria are not expected until 2019, so there might be another couple of mixed earnings calls on the horizon.

One boost to the bank account which investors should not become comfortable with is the patent settlement with Apple. This almost certainly assisted with the profit uplift, primarily because such a settlement was unexpected. Apple is not usually reasonable when it comes to disputes, preferring to measure the might of its own legal team in the courts, but this must have been a pleasant surprise for the Nokia team.

Nokia lifer Arto Nummela was the founding CEO of HMD when it was created a year ago, with the stated aim of bringing the Nokia brand back from the euthanasia imposed upon it by Microsoft’s disastrous acquisition. The thinking was to combine the Nokia brand with lean and mean East Asian manufacturing to beat the odds as a handset startup.

“Arto Nummela has played a key role in the creation of the HMD Global operation, building the team and launching our first products,” said Sam Chin, HMD Chairman. “On behalf of the whole Board, I thank Arto for his contribution and wish him well in his future endeavours.”

There was talk of the departure being through mutual agreement, but also that Nummela is leaving HMD with immediate effect, so it’s hard to discern what the underlying reason is. It’s hard to see this as a positive development, however, even though seasoned veteran Florian Seiche remains.

HMD recently announced a partnership with Zeiss optics and launched a couple of feature phones this week, but other than that things have been pretty quiet since the puzzling excitement around the resurrection of the 3310 (pictured) at MWC back in February. We wondered from the start how far the Nokia brand could take HMD and maybe we’ve just found out.

]]>http://telecoms.com/483573/nokia-handset-maker-hmd-loses-its-ceo/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/07/HMD-Nokia_3310_range.jpgTelus the latest win in Nuage’s SD-WAN surgehttp://telecoms.com/483545/telus-the-latest-win-in-nuages-sd-wan-surge/
http://telecoms.com/483545/telus-the-latest-win-in-nuages-sd-wan-surge/#commentsWed, 19 Jul 2017 17:14:09 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=483545Telus has been named as the latest Nuage Networks victim client win, as the SD-WAN craze continues to grow across the world.

It’s a technology which we’ve been talking about for a while, but SD-WAN is starting to make some real dents in budgets. Research from IDC claims roughly 70% of respondents will be either using or evaluating SD-WAN, with the industry worth up to $6 billion by 2020. Considering traction only really started last year, that’s a pretty impressive growth rate.

With Nuage boasting of contract wins at BT, China Telecom, Telefonica, and Telia, the speculative research from IDC is justified by some commercial activity.

“The cloud is a critical enabler of business agility and digital transformation, and enterprise IT teams are quickly recognizing their WAN services and architectures also require significant transformation,” said Brad Casemore, Research Director of Data Centre Networks at IDC.

“Many of these enterprise customers are looking to their service providers to deliver SD-WAN solutions that can confer benefits such as cost-effective, feature-rich, secure application delivery and operational savings at branch offices and other remote sites.”

“Nuage Networks has become a leader in helping service providers deliver fully automated and self-service SD-WAN solutions to enterprise customers who are looking to connect their users quickly and securely to applications in private and public clouds,” said Sunil Khandekar, Nuage Networks CEO.

“Our platform is present in the world’s largest carrier-grade networks and is being deployed as a complete overlay that can serve as a natural extension of customers’ existing L2 and L3 MPLS VPN and other WAN service offerings to remote sites.”

As part of the agreement between Telus and Nuage, the telco will launch a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offering to enterprise customers, allowing them to virtually build, manage and cloud-optimize their networks through a flexible self-serve platform.

Elsewhere, the Metro Ethernet Forum’s (MEF) continued quest for attention in a world which is slowly forgetting it, has caused it to stumble into the SDN-WAN euphoria. After bigging up its rather forgettable work surrounding the ‘Third Network’, the organization is attempting extend its work to standardize SD-WAN managed services.

]]>http://telecoms.com/483545/telus-the-latest-win-in-nuages-sd-wan-surge/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/12/winner.jpgHMD targets generation-narcissist with Zeiss smartphone partenrshiphttp://telecoms.com/483183/hmd-targets-generation-narcissist-with-zeiss-smartphone-partenrship/
http://telecoms.com/483183/hmd-targets-generation-narcissist-with-zeiss-smartphone-partenrship/#commentsThu, 06 Jul 2017 14:32:25 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=483183HMD Global, the current overseer of the Nokia phone brand, has announced a new partnership with Zeiss which promises to use photography as a means to create a ‘new’ USP for the brand.

Launching a new phone brand in such a stagnant market would be considered a brave move, but the column inches captured by HMD Global at MWC this year does indicate it might know what it’s doing with the Nokia brand. That said, launching a new smartphone which uses photography as the main selling point is another ambitious play. It’s been done before, and is mainly nailed down by Apple and Huawei, so it is a tough ask.

The new pair will aim to ‘advance the quality of the total imaging experience on smartphones’ through software, services, screen quality, and optic design. We’re a little bit speechless here. Most of the latest smartphones have cameras and software with top spec, and the camera phone marketing campaigns were all pretty much exhausted a couple of years back. There might be a little bit of logic behind the launch because of recent trends, but we’re a little bit sceptical.

“Collaborating with Zeiss is an important part of our commitment to always deliver the very best experience for our customers,” said Arto Nummela, CEO at HMD Global. “Our fans want more than a great smartphone camera, they want a complete imaging experience that doesn’t just set the standard but redefines it. Our fans expect it and, together with Zeiss, we’re delivering it – co-developed imaging excellence for all.”

On a positive side, it might be a very clever move from HMD. When you look at current trends, user-generated video is becoming more prominent on platforms like Facebook, while Snapchat and Instagram, two platforms defined by imagery, are also continuing to demonstrate their popularity. A camera as a standalone product is now pretty much redundant, but the youngest generations are proving to be as narcissistic as we all suspected just using their phones.

The clever bit is that previous campaigns for photography have primarily focused on those who would be considered enthusiasts. The videos and images which are being created for these platforms are done by amateurs who couldn’t give a sh*t about specs. As long as it looks good, or can drop a nice filter over the top, or add functionality into the image simply, they will be happy.

HMD are essentially reinventing the wheel here; there is nothing original about a smartphone which uses photography as a USP, but there might be an angle. The Nokia brand was previously built on the idea of simplicity and reliability, if this photography angle could be combined with those characteristics, as well as tapping into the sense of nostalgia we all feel when we see a Nokia phone, they might just have a chance.

]]>http://telecoms.com/483183/hmd-targets-generation-narcissist-with-zeiss-smartphone-partenrship/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/07/Nokia.jpgNokia says ‘Xiaomi the money’http://telecoms.com/483168/nokia-says-xiaomi-the-money/
http://telecoms.com/483168/nokia-says-xiaomi-the-money/#commentsWed, 05 Jul 2017 17:05:28 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=483168Nokia’s Chinese whispers continue with the announcement of a business collaboration agreement with Xiaomi, which includes some smartphone patent cross-licensing.

The business collaboration is not, as you could be forgiven for presuming, around smartphones however. Instead Nokia is providing a bunch of networking gear, including IP routing and datacenter interconnect equipment, apparently intended to help Xiaomi serve large ISPs and datacenter players. Who knew?

The smartphone patent cross licensing agreement is also intriguing as the industry was supposed to have got all that stuff out of its system following the patent wars that accompanied the early days of the contemporary smartphone industry. Patent cross-licensing strengthens both party’s patent position, protecting them from litigation and empowering them to take action themselves if the mood takes them.

“Xiaomi is one of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers and we are delighted to have reached an agreement with them,” said Rajeev Suri, President & CEO of Nokia. “In addition to welcoming such a prominent global technology company to our family of patent licensees, we look forward to working together on a wide range of strategic projects.”

“As a company seeking to deliver more exciting technological innovations to the world, we are excited at the opportunity to work more closely with Nokia in future,” said Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi. “Xiaomi is committed to building sustainable, long-term partnerships with global technology leaders. Our collaboration with Nokia will enable us to tap on its leadership in building large, high performance networks and formidable strength in software and services, as we seek to create even more remarkable products and services that deliver the best user experience to our Mi fans worldwide.”

Having taken the smartphone world by storm a couple of years ago Xiaomi has subsequently been losing ground to other Chinese OEMs like Oppo and Vivo. The collaboration with Nokia will apparently also encompass a portfolio of buzzwordy acronyms, including IoT, VR, AR and AI, so Xiaomi seems to have sensibly concluded that diversification is the way forward. For Nokia this not only furthers its Chinese ambitions but gives its Technology division a bit more patent ammo.

]]>http://telecoms.com/483168/nokia-says-xiaomi-the-money/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Xiaomi-Mi-MIX.jpgNokia poaches Samsung veteran to head up consumer tech divisionhttp://telecoms.com/483086/nokia-poaches-samsung-veteran-to-head-up-consumer-tech-division/
http://telecoms.com/483086/nokia-poaches-samsung-veteran-to-head-up-consumer-tech-division/#commentsFri, 30 Jun 2017 15:51:32 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=483086Nokia Technologies – the bit that deals with things like wearables and intellectual property, is now being run by Gregory Lee, the former head of Samsung Electronics North America.

Lee’s Nokia profile page reveals he had the top North American job since the start of 2015, prior to that he headed up the mobile phone division and served as global CMO for his first five years at Samsung Electronics. So Lee is very much a devices guy, which may offer some insight into Nokia’s non-networking ambitions.

When Nokia got rid of its one-dominant devices division a few years ago it kept hold of a bunch of patents and assorted intellectual property and grouped them into Nokia Technologies. At the time it looked little more than an attempt to recoup some residual value from the handset car crash via a spot of light patent trolling, but the acquisition of Withings and the licensing of handset designs to HMD indicate greater ambition from the company that was once synonymous with consumer gadgetry.

“We have chosen the right leader to take Nokia Technologies forward at a time of renewed excitement about the Nokia brand around the world,” said Rajeev Suri, President and CEO of Nokia. “Gregory’s passion for innovation and operational excellence, along with his proven ability to build and lead global consumer technology businesses, make him well suited to advance Nokia’s efforts in virtual reality, digital health and beyond.”

“I am excited by the opportunity to lead Nokia Technologies,” said Lee. “The Nokia Technologies team has produced innovative products and solutions in dynamic, high growth segments of the consumer technology market, and I am honored to be in a position to help build on this success in the future.”

It’s unlikely that Nokia would be interested in revisiting the scene of its smartphone humiliation again, but it does seem to have renewed enthusiasm for consumer devices. This is likely to be a patient affair, combining in-house health-related IoT devices and whatever IP licensees come up with, but it looks like Nokia wants to at least have the potential to exploit the next big gadget thing as and when it manifests itself.

]]>http://telecoms.com/483086/nokia-poaches-samsung-veteran-to-head-up-consumer-tech-division/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/06/Gregory-Lee-Nokia.jpgNokia completes Comptel acquisition, creates dedicated Chinese OTT unithttp://telecoms.com/483026/nokia-completes-comptel-acquisition-creates-dedicated-chinese-ott-unit/
http://telecoms.com/483026/nokia-completes-comptel-acquisition-creates-dedicated-chinese-ott-unit/#commentsThu, 29 Jun 2017 12:06:35 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=483026Nokia has completed a major part of its standalone software business strategy and is embarking on a new one to help Chinese internet companies expand overseas.

While Nokia is hardly alone in identifying software as a key area of diversification for companies, it does stand out in deciding to make that part semi-autonomous from the rest of the business. Nokia will throw much of its existing software operations into the new unit created by the Comptel acquisition to create a significant BSS/OSS player.

“Comptel bolsters Nokia’s software portfolio by adding capabilities that help digital service providers bring new communications services to market faster, master the orchestration of services and order flows, capture data-in-motion and refine decision-making,” said the announcement.

Having finished off that piece of diversification business Nokia moved swiftly on to the massive Chinese market, with the creation of a special unit designed to help domestic internet giants expand overseas.

Chinese companies don’t have a great track record when it comes to international expansion with, ironically, Nokia rival Huawei one of the notable exceptions. One of the reasons for this is cultural – both in terms of business practice and things like branding – and Nokia might fancy its chances to help overcome these better than Huawei.

The unit will be headed up by Chief Strategy Officer Kathrin Buvac and be part of Nokia’s strategy organization. It will focus on areas like data centers, cloud, IP routing, transport and services, as well as emerging technologies like edge computing and AI. “The creation of the unit supports Nokia’s strategy of expanding its business beyond its core communication service provider market,” said the announcement.

As everyone in the industry is now talking about super-speeds, or super-low latency, the noise is starting to become a blur. We also seem to have very short memories. During the build up to any technological step forward there are a number of claims made from trials in the lab or ‘real-world’ tests. Can you actually pin-point a time when these claims were taken into a commercial setting and experienced by the customer? It’s hype.

But Nokia is doing something we quite like here. Instead of focusing on the numbers themselves and going for the ‘shock and awe’ campaign, they are doing some old-fashioned marketing, building a narrative around the technology.

“We are committed to helping operators evolve their networks in the most effective way, allowing them to anticipate and meet demands with higher performance where and when it is needed,” said Tero Peltola, Head of the LTE business unit at Nokia.

“We continue to evolve our 4G offering with 4.5G Pro and 4.9G technologies, and with this network latency demonstration we can show operators how they could use LTE to deliver higher-bandwidth industry and enterprise applications to more customers on their path to 5G.”

Customers are not idiots, but they do need things explained to them occasionally. 4.5G or 4.9G or 4.99999G (or whatever they come up with next) is a stepping stone. You gradually adapt your business model for the 5G world, making it more suitable for the super-fast connected economy. What most people forget is that there are only a small number of early adopters in the world, for the rest, change is a very scary thing.

At Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Nokia has said it will show its AirScale base station working with 4.9G technology to reduce network latency to less than two milliseconds, bringing performance closer to the latency levels 5G is expected to deliver.

Some will look at the radical change in business models and customer relationships with excitement, chomping at the bit to get their hands dirty, though the vast majority will be terrified. They are fail-last types of businesses, desperately need a theory to be proven and proven again before implemented, and will cling to tried and tested practises until absolutely necessary. These are the businesses which are suffering today, though their pain will only be intensified unless they are guided towards the digital economy 5G which promises.

This is the importance of 4.5G and 4.9G. Each stepping stone allows for a slight change and adaptation to the new world. 5G is still going to be terrifying for the majority, it will still create a new class of winners and losers, but with this gradual step change, the pain will be lessened.

So vast speeds and minimal latency might be a good story to capture the early adopters, but the fortunes will be made in the late followers market. The continuity-of-service plug is a smart move from Nokia.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482983/nokia-talks-up-continuity-of-service-at-mwc-shanghai/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/Nokia-5G-First-e1488130014380.jpgNokia unveils a bunch of digital health gadgetshttp://telecoms.com/482782/nokia-unveils-a-bunch-of-digital-health-gadgets/
http://telecoms.com/482782/nokia-unveils-a-bunch-of-digital-health-gadgets/#commentsTue, 20 Jun 2017 14:28:53 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482782The first major set of announcements since the Withings acquisition sees Nokia make its move with a portfolio of devices designed to help people keep an eye on their health.

Nokia famously got out of the devices game a few years ago when it flogged its handset division to Microsoft, which promptly killed the rest of it off. But a year or so ago the company made a surprising strategic move with the acquisition of consumer IoT company Withings, having apparently decided that was where the devices action was going to be in future.

Now Nokia has fully integrated Withings and this set of launches offers the first fruits of that unlikely coupling. The headline devices include Nokia Body – a smart, connected set of scales – and Nokia BPM+ – a blood pressure monitor. There is also, inevitably, and app to allow all this data to be processed and, presumably, so be shared on social media to show how healthy you are.

“Nokia’s global expansion into digital health builds on Nokia’s unmatched track record of quality, reliability and trust, which are characteristics that are all critical to success in the health industry,” said Brad Rodrigues, interim president at Nokia Technologies.

“Nokia’s line of digital health products delivers actionable insights, giving users the equivalent of a daily check-up,” said Cedric Hutchings, VP of Digital Health at Nokia. “Today’s launch extends the accessibility of our products to a broader range of users and needs, giving families the personalized experience they need to live healthier lives together.”

“To face the global health crisis of chronic diseases related to lifestyle and behaviour, we need powerful and engaging tools and solutions,” said Nokia Chief Medical Officer, Matthew Diamond, MD, PhD. “Nokia is committed to shifting the focus from treatment to prevention, empowering consumers to take control of their health.”

These Nokia-branded products will be sold through consumer retail channels and may inspire more brand loyalty than the handset rebadging programme we were forced to endure around this year’s MWC. With aging populations and over-stretched public sectors in many countries, digital health is likely to become a big deal as we look for more efficient ways to manage chronic health issues.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482782/nokia-unveils-a-bunch-of-digital-health-gadgets/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/06/Nokia-digital-health.jpg5G will be the first wireless generation designed by the end-userhttp://telecoms.com/482715/5g-will-be-the-first-wireless-generation-designed-by-the-end-user/
http://telecoms.com/482715/5g-will-be-the-first-wireless-generation-designed-by-the-end-user/#commentsThu, 15 Jun 2017 12:10:18 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482715Keynote speakers on the second day of 5G World 2017 agree that the nature of 5G will be determined by demand such as never before.

Previous mobile technology generations have largely gone with a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy. This probably hit its peak with the coincidence of the dotcom speculative bubble and the 3G spectrum auctions, which saw operators almost bankrupt themselves in their haste to jump on those bandwagons, but saw little return on that investment for years as the anticipated stampede to various mobile data services failed to materialise.

Howard Watson, BT Group CIO, revealed that BT’s strategic thinking is driven by anticipating what end-users will want to do with devices such as smartphones in future. Future end-user demand can be loosely grouped into five categories: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive IoT, mission-critical, service consistency and rapid service.

The first of these is likely to be eMBB, according to Mike Roberts of analysts Ovum. He forecasts eMBB to launch in 2019 but didn’t detail what the cut-off point will be between continued LTE advancements and eMBB. Ovum also forecasts that the US will be the front-runner when it comes to 5G adoption, it will have been launched by 120 operators in 45 countries by the end of 2021 and we will see 389 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2022.

Watson concluded by calling on the industry to do a better job of thinking about 5G from an end-user perspective. “We need our vendor partners to think end-to-end about what 5G can bring to end-users. Also can chipset vendors please not chase short-term, country-specific, spectrum-based solutions,” he pleaded, echoing a growing consensus among operators that vendors need to raise their game.

We then heard from Hossein Moiin, CTO of Nokia (pictured above), who concurred that the power of 5G lies in the hands of end-users and that this is much more the case than in previous generations. While stressing that “the only limiting factor is our imagination,” Moiin conceded that some of the currently discussed utopian use-cases, such as remote surgery, are still a long way from becoming reality.

Some of the more immediate opportunities presented by 5G will include remote healthcare, a greater degree of network flexibility, some vehicle automation, such as drones, and improved capacity and coverage thanks to things like fixed wireless access. On the latter, Moiin stressed “its time has come,” implying it’s not necessarily just a 5G use-case.

In a subsequent discussion panel (pictured below) BT’s Watson was less optimistic about FWA. Directly referring to Verizon, which is the major operator currently most bullish about it Watson said he has yet to be convinced of the economics of it. Bernard Bureau, Wireless CTO of Telus, agreed that FWA is just one possible tool to solve certain connectivity problems and noted that if you base it on just macro sites you will soon encounter capacity problems, but if you also make use of utility poles you will have to buy a hell of a lot of small cells.

The panel all agreed that a lot of the opportunities being anticipated with the arrival of 5G are already possible thanks to the continuing evolution of 4G. “The disruption is probably more on the business side than the technology side,” said Eric Levander, GM of comms infrastructure global sales at Intel. In response to a question from Telecoms.com the panel anticipated the initial commercial opportunities will depend on the increased speed and capacity offered by eMBB.

While we’ve been looking forward to 5G arriving in 2020 for some time, as ever this will be a gradual evolution with some commercial opportunities associated with it already available and many not likely to appear for several years after. It does seem to be clear that investment and progress in 5G will depend more than ever on demand, as opposed to supply.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482715/5g-will-be-the-first-wireless-generation-designed-by-the-end-user/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/06/Hossein-Moiin-5G-World.jpgNokia unveils major new IP routing platform and chipsethttp://telecoms.com/482690/nokia-unveils-major-new-ip-routing-platform-and-chipset/
http://telecoms.com/482690/nokia-unveils-major-new-ip-routing-platform-and-chipset/#commentsWed, 14 Jun 2017 16:45:53 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482690Networking vendor Nokia has launched the fourth generation of its bespoke silicon, which forms the core of a major new IP routing portfolio.

The silicon is called FP4, which Nokia is claiming is the world’s first multi-terabit chipset and is six times more powerful than today’s best network processors. Telecoms.com spoke to Steve Vogelsang, CTO for Nokia’s IP and optical business, and he explained that the unique needs of network processors require them to be designed from the ground up. With this launch Nokia seems to be positioning itself as a market leader in this area.

This the FP4 at the core Vogelsang said Nokia is able to offer IP edge routers – which are responsible for much of the internet backbone – that have a significantly higher capacity than those offered by the likes of Cisco, Juniper and Huawei.

Apart from capacity, the other claims being made on behalf of this generation of routers is an improved level of built-in analytics, which should help to automate networks and future-proof them in anticipation of SDN. Nokia is also heralding their built-in security features that can augment defence against internet foulness such as DDoS attacks.

“The internet platform is set to fully subsume HD on-demand video while simultaneously expanding with connectivity to billions of new devices,” said Basil Alwan, president of the ION Business Group at Nokia. “Stepping forward demands an immense performance increase, vastly improved insight and security and, of course, compelling economics. With today’s announcement, we are delivering the technology advances needed to support this evolution. The end game is all-important: an evolved global nervous system for society and certainly the most capable, cost-effective, resilient and secure infrastructure ever built.”

Nokia also managed to get some customers to talk up the launch. “With demand continuing to rocket, together with more cloud-based applications, innovations like Nokia’s new FP4 silicon and routing platforms allow us to maintain our commitment to our customers by balancing capacity, intelligence, visibility and security, so we can transform to an insight-driven, automated networking approach for building and operating our networks,” said Neil McRae, BT Managing Director and Chief Architect.

“Nokia is setting the pace with their FP4 network processor,” said Frank Ostojic, GM of the ASIC Products Division at Broadcom. “When it comes to the highest levels of integration and use of cutting edge silicon technologies, including 16nm finFET Plus process technology, Broadcom’s industry-leading embedded SerDes, and advanced packaging, Nokia is charting a course that others will have to follow.”

If this launch really does improve core network capacity significantly then it’s good news for everyone. Recent BT announcements show how keen operators are to future-proof their networks and with capacity demands continuing to increase exponentially it’s easy to see why. Here’s an infographic and a nice corporate vid Nokia produced to introduce all this networking goodness.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482690/nokia-unveils-major-new-ip-routing-platform-and-chipset/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/06/Nokia-FP4-Silicon.jpgThe 5G finish line is so close you can almost touch it – Nokiahttp://telecoms.com/482650/the-5g-finish-line-is-so-close-you-can-almost-touch-it-nokia/
http://telecoms.com/482650/the-5g-finish-line-is-so-close-you-can-almost-touch-it-nokia/#commentsMon, 12 Jun 2017 16:33:51 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482650If the road to 4G was a complicated one it appears things might be a little different in the build up to 5G according to Hossein Moiin, CTO of Nokia’s Mobile Networks business group.

With anticipation for the super speed networks starting to hit euphoric levels, the small and steady incremental steps towards 5G are bringing the finishing line to within touching distance. Business cases for the technology are beginning to ramp up, and standards dangerously close to completion, surely it won’t be long until we can coo over cat videos 24/7.

“Since Barcelona (at Mobile World Congress), we’ve solidified what we promised,” said Moiin. “It’s beginning to shape up in a way technology development usually does; very steady progress, and its where it should be. Our hope is by the end of this year most of the standardization will be done. This is a hope and an expectation.”

While the confidence from Moiin is encouraging, on the eve of the 5G revolution there are still pockets of scepticism around the world. Whether it is South America, or Russia, or technophobes here in the UK, the question still remains as to whether 5G is the horse or the cart.

IoT might be one of the holy grails of the 5G promise, but, firstly, will the meagre rewards for telcos justify the relentless push for speed? And secondly, is it needed considering the advanced which are being made elsewhere? Some may argue IoT can be achieved through LTE. Another interesting question is whether this is a solution for a yet unanswered question.

“It depends on which operators you are talking about and where they are in their own market,” said Moiin. “We see huge demand and need in developed markets like North America or Japan for instance.”

In markets like North America, you have to begin to question the economics of telecommunications. It might be considered an over simplification, but there simply aren’t enough customers left. Where are you going to source new contracts? How many new services can you push on your existing customer base? Where are the new revenues going to come from in this increasingly commoditized sector?

5G is the solution to this question as large telcos look to broaden their portfolios. Whether it is more of an IT focused business models targeting enterprise, or an entertainment orientated one to deliver content, the next generation of networks open new doors to new revenues.

“Investments in LTE were hampered by the initial layout, which was very high,” said Moiin. “For 5G, it’s a different deployment model. You can roll out in one area, collect subscriptions which will then fund elsewhere. You can focus on the dense urban areas which need capacity and then move onto factories and then onto broader coverage. This gradual rollout is a different type of investment from LTE.”

The introduction of LTE saw the early adopters through to the late arrivers, as well as the continued investments today. It was the beginning of the bell curve, due to the huge sums which were needed in the initial stages.

5G, however, is based more on software and the infrastructure is already largely in place. Moiin anticipates a more steady adoption trend, which is spread more evenly through the ecosystem. The complications of the previous generation have largely been answered, though others are now presenting themselves in certain areas.

“I’m not optimistic about Europe to be honest,” said Moiin. “Europe is traditionally the leader in developing new technology, but in terms of deployment, operational structure or taking risks, these are issues which are not technical. European operators are falling behind.”

The first deployments of 5G are likely to be in North America, with Korea and Japan following with mobile use cases. Europe will continue to lag behind, with one of the reasons being the industry is not supported by the regulatory landscape.

If you compare the European market with that of the states, Moiin’s point begins to become a bit clearer. The markets are roughly the same size, but one has four operators, the other has more than 60. In one, the R&D is concentrated and consistent, allowing for economies of scale. In the other, it is fragmented, and reduced, as the operators fund expensive marketing campaigns to tackle the threat of incredibly competition.

If domestic consolidation is not the answer, then maybe pan-European consolidation should be encouraged. Create a smaller number of mega-operators with more centralized and consistent R&D plans to step-change the investments in future technology. Perhaps this needs to be lead from the top, as it would appear pan-European consolidation is an unpopular conversation for the telcos.

“Maybe the FCC is more enlightened in these matters that Europeans, even the current one,” said Moiin. “They see the virtuous cycle of investment, innovation and adoption. If you remove anything it won’t work. Europe lacks the investment in 5G for the moment.”

]]>http://telecoms.com/482650/the-5g-finish-line-is-so-close-you-can-almost-touch-it-nokia/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/06/Nokia-5GW2016.jpgNokia takes fixed-line fight to Huawei in its own backyardhttp://telecoms.com/482630/nokia-takes-fixed-line-fight-to-huawei-in-its-own-backyard/
http://telecoms.com/482630/nokia-takes-fixed-line-fight-to-huawei-in-its-own-backyard/#commentsMon, 12 Jun 2017 11:25:46 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482630Nokia has taken another step towards a face-off with Huawei, collecting a useful little customer win in the shape of China Mobile.

The announcement builds on an already existing relationship between the two, and will aim to extend ultra-broadband access and intelligent home services to homes across China. As part of the agreement, Nokia’s optical network terminal (ONT) home gateway will support China Mobile’s intelligent home services, while its home gateway will be deployed in fiber networks in 29 provinces across the country.

“This important announcement furthers Nokia’s role as a key technology provider in China,” said Federico Guillén, President of Nokia’s Fixed Networks Business Group.

“Our home gateway solution provides China Mobile with the ultra-broadband access technology they need to capitalize on IoT and deliver new services that support their evolving customer needs. We are very pleased to continue our close work with China Mobile and look forward to helping them deliver on their commitments.”

While Huawei might be running riot throughout the world, seemingly in an effort to wipe Nokia and Ericsson from the history books, the Finn’s aren’t taking it lying down. It certainly is an interesting strategy, but taking on the segments number one player in its domestic market is a bold move.

Over the last few weeks, there certainly has been a bit of momentum gathering for Nokia in the Chinese market. Last month, a new joint venture with China Huaxin was announced which will eventually become the exclusive platform for Nokia in China for areas such as IP routing, optical, fixed and next-generation 5G.

As you would expect Huawei isn’t taking this lying down. Today it announced a deal with Shanghai Telecom (part of China Telecom) to deploy a gigabit network by using 10G PON optical network terminals. This too is all about FTTH and offering data rates in excess of 1 Gbps is a nice headline-grabbing feature, although the actual end-user speeds are likely to be more like a tenth of that.

Some might be sceptical due to the dominance of Huawei, and ZTE to a lesser extent, in the Chinese domestic market, but at least it is nice to see the Noka being a bit proactive in the face of adversity. While Nokia is snapping up competitors (Alcatel-Lucent) and shedding the excess fat (its mobile business), but also simultaneously pushing into a very challenging market, Ericsson just seems to be bumbling along.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482630/nokia-takes-fixed-line-fight-to-huawei-in-its-own-backyard/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/10/cloud-fight.jpgNokia determined to stay on top of edge computinghttp://telecoms.com/482578/nokia-determined-to-stay-on-top-of-edge-computing/
http://telecoms.com/482578/nokia-determined-to-stay-on-top-of-edge-computing/#commentsWed, 07 Jun 2017 11:40:38 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482578Edge computing has become lost in the sea of buzzwords. Not over at Nokia however, which has tested applications based on Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC).

Set against the backdrop of the University of Notre Dame, Nokia and the university’s Wireless Institute set out to test wifi with two MEC-based applications; Edge Video Orchestration (EVO) and Augmented Reality (AR), using Nokia’s AirFrame server. The trial also tested the MEC applications with a feature enabling connective to multiple radios, optimizing data flow through wifiand cellular networks.

“Mobile Edge Computing is ideal for enabling low-latency applications tailored to specific enterprise needs such as those of the University of Notre Dame,” said Joe Hammer, Global Alliance Director for Nokia. “MEC enables exciting new marketing opportunities for venues, smart cities and retailers to provide digital advertising, customized services or enhanced user experiences.

“Nokia, with strategic partners such as IBM, can leverage MEC to analyse customers’ preferences and behaviours with cognitive analytics. By deploying applications at the network edge, rich, engaging content is brought closer to consumers, application response times are reduced while reliability is increased – all of these benefits offer a truly excellent user experience.”

The aim of the test was to demonstrate how demand can be split demand over multiple base stations in order to improve speed of access to data services in congested areas. Using Nokia’s Flexi Zone small cell base stations and AirScale WiFi access points, the test found that the technology can significantly improve data throughput in venues such as stadiums where there is a dense concentration of mobile users all trying to access the network and content simultaneously.

It’s a relatively simple idea, but often the best ones are. MEC has the potential to transform certain aspects of the 5G world, due to the removal of any bottle necks on the network, though the area has seemingly lost some of its ‘sexiness’ over time.

The above example might be a relatively frivolous idea in the connected era, though the applications elsewhere could be much more revolutionary. Think about autonomous vehicles which need decision making to be done to a fraction of a second, or robotic surgery. These are areas where hosting intelligence driven decision making capabilities on the edge would be unmeasurably beneficial.

The ideas maybe simple, but the applications could take ‘sexier’ applications forwards leaps and bounds. Lesson number one, never forget about the boring stuff.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482578/nokia-determined-to-stay-on-top-of-edge-computing/feed/1http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/12/Mobile-video-content-apps-edge.jpgEricsson is losing the R&D game and that needs to changehttp://telecoms.com/482479/ericsson-is-losing-the-rd-game-and-that-needs-to-change/
http://telecoms.com/482479/ericsson-is-losing-the-rd-game-and-that-needs-to-change/#commentsMon, 05 Jun 2017 15:31:39 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482479Huawei is proving why its number one in the infrastructure world: a relentless pursuit of innovation which is making Nokia and Ericsson look positively pedestrian.

The statistics, which you can have a look at if you scroll down, tell a story thatwill surprise few. R&D is certainly a focus for all three of the network infrastructure vendors, and Huawei is leading the charge. It brings in the most amount of revenue, therefore this should be unsurprising, but a continued focus on innovation is a clear message from Huawei.

Many would have forgiven the giant for reducing the proportion of revenues it attributed to R&D, after all, 2016 saw $11 billion pushed into innovation. Huawei has continued to invest 15% of total revenues into R&D; even if this percentage was to decrease to 10% that would have been $7.3 billion last year – still the biggest spender in the world. Its spend currently exceeds the combined value of both Nokia and Ericsson R&D budgets.

Nokia is an interesting story however. The challenge of Huawei could be seen by some as a wake-up call, and the kick-start it needed to get back on track.

Investment levels in R&D have been varied over the last five years, though they have been higher than the average. This was also coupled with the €15.6 billion acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, which was incorporated into the figures last year. In 2016, Nokia invested roughly $5.4 billion in innovation, around 21% of total revenues.

This is what should be recognized as a statement of intent; sell off the distractions, buy another major player and invest heavily in R&D. Nokia is not leaving any unanswered questions in mounting a challenge to Huawei’s dominance.

The final area is Ericsson, a company which is in a bit of a state at the moment. Now we’re not saying we know how to run a billion-dollar, multi-national corporation, or the intricacies of financing idea-smiths, but there doesn’t seem to be much intent at the moment.

R&D investments have been maintained at 15%, which should be applauded; there must occasionally be pressure from the odd greedy investor to reduce investments and bolster profits. However, total revenues have tumbled sharply, bringing down investment in R&D. In terms of hard cash, Ericsson is spending 23% less compared to five years ago while both Nokia and Huawei have increased cash investment, see below.

Year

Ericsson

Nokia

Huawei

2012

4,852

3,961

4,283

2013

4,932

2,616

4,417

2014

5,315

2,591

5,881

2015

4,134

2,359

8,583

2016

3,702

5,428

11,000

R&D investment in millions ($)

Ericsson has discussed selling off the underperforming assets, been attached to acquisition rumours and gone through numerous restructures, however each time the business does not seem to be in a better position. Nokia has been proactive in answering the challenge, Ericsson has slowly began to circle the drain, gradually shrinking into the shadows of mediocrity.

Turning a super tanker like Ericsson cannot be done overnight, but this is a trend over two to three years. Investment in R&D somehow needs to increase, or at least there needs to be a demonstration it is being directed to the right areas. Useless assets need to be gone to free up cash and remove distractions. New ideas will take Ericsson back to the top, and new ideas require cash.

What is clear, is that the current trend of decreasing investments will only lead to Ericsson becoming redundant as an organization.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482479/ericsson-is-losing-the-rd-game-and-that-needs-to-change/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/08/Road-5G-Open.jpgNokia, Intel and NTT Docomo test out 4.5 GHz band for 5Ghttp://telecoms.com/482257/nokia-intel-and-ntt-docomo-test-out-4-5-ghz-band-for-5g/
http://telecoms.com/482257/nokia-intel-and-ntt-docomo-test-out-4-5-ghz-band-for-5g/#commentsWed, 24 May 2017 09:29:02 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482257Nokia, Intel and NTT Docomo have kicked off a new bout of trials to test out the 4.5 GHz band, one of the 5G candidates in Japan.

Focusing on Nokia’s 5G FIRST offering, the trio will test end-to-end applications over-the-air between Nokia’s AirScale base station and Intel’s 5G Mobile Trial Platform, a proposition which has been grabbing a few headlines in recent weeks. Tokyo will be the focus of the trials, notably around busy tourist, shopping and business locations as well as at public events hosted by the operator.

“This trial is an important milestone for the development of 5G in Japan, which will be one of the first countries in the world to adopt the technology,” said Jae Won, who leads Nokia’s Japanese business.

“Furthermore, the initiative is an important step forward in our collaboration with NTT Docomo, as well as other key technology partners, as we develop a technology that will meet the ever-growing demands of huge numbers of people living in megacities.”

“This is a vital first step to allow us to ensure that we have the 5G network infrastructure available for when we commercially introduce the technology, with an ecosystem of device vendors to offer our subscribers the best possible choice and highest quality,” said Seizo Onoe, NTT Docomo’s CTO.

While Japan is generally recognised as one of the more advanced telco markets worldwide, the pressure is on to deliver 5G without delay. D-Day is the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which would certainly be a suitable backdrop to launch 5G onto the waiting world. Although it is a useful little field-test, it isn’t the first surrounding the 4.5GHz band.

In Yokohama last November, Japan Huawei and NTT Docomo set up a ‘5G base station’ and conducted a trial using technology compliant with the current 3GPP New Radio standard agreements. It used 200 MHz of spectrum in the 455 GHz band via 64 transceivers to serve 23 separate pieces of user equipment (UE), both static and mobile. At total of 11.29 Gbps of throughput (around 1 Gbps per UE) was claimed with a latency of 0.5 milliseconds.

]]>http://telecoms.com/482257/nokia-intel-and-ntt-docomo-test-out-4-5-ghz-band-for-5g/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/Nokia-5G-First-e1488130014380.jpgApple and Nokia kiss and make uphttp://telecoms.com/482225/apple-and-nokia-kiss-and-make-up/
http://telecoms.com/482225/apple-and-nokia-kiss-and-make-up/#commentsTue, 23 May 2017 11:07:37 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=482225In a stark contrast to Apple’s usual business activities, the iLeader has settled its litigation disputes with Nokia surprisingly quickly and all is rosy now.

While we are not necessarily suggesting Apple is a combative organization, it does seem to spend a lot of time arguing its case in front of a judge. This announcement settles a long-running dispute between the two parties, who have promised to get on in the future. Bosom buddies if you will.

“This is a meaningful agreement between Nokia and Apple,” said Maria Varsellona, Chief Legal Officer at Nokia. “It moves our relationship with Apple from being adversaries in court to business partners working for the benefit of our customers.”

Under a business collaboration agreement, Nokia will be providing certain network infrastructure products and services to Apple, and the iBoss will resume carrying Nokia digital health products in its retail and online stores. The budding new pair will also look to drive future collaboration in digital health initiatives.

The tiff itself actually kicked off back in December, as Nokia accused Apple of using its patents without cash passing hands in such areas as display, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets and video coding. There were 32 patents in suit across all of the actions, though the terms of the deal have been kept under-wraps.

“We are pleased with this resolution of our dispute and we look forward to expanding our business relationship with Nokia,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO.

The iChief will pay an up-front settlement to Nokia, which will be reflected partially as patent licensing net sales in Nokia Technologies and partially as net sales in other Nokia business groups. Disputes of this nature usually rumble on for long-periods, though Apple has recently found a new opponent to battle on the legal front, Qualcomm, which can now kindly receive more attention from the iLegal team.